Warner Bros. to Use BitTorrent

BitTorrent is a file transfer system that has been labelled as mostly something people use to download illegal copies of things, but it has been slowly shifting to where more online content providers are using it as a valued service. Many independant videos are being shared online through BitTorrent as it takes much of the financial burden off the provider to get the content out there.

Warner Brothers Entertainment Group will be using BitTorrent this summer as a way to distribute movies and television shows online. The comapny plans to sell the movies and shows online using BitTorrent as the distribution method the same day, as the DVD's hit store shelves.

“If we can convert 5, 10, 15 percent of the peer-to-peer users that have been obtaining our product from illegitimate sources to becoming legitimate buyers of our product, that has the potential of a huge impact on our industry and our economics.”

I am not exactly sure how they will stop the videos from being spread out online though, as Warner Bros. could find themselves as the main distribution source for all the illegal downloading of their shows, as movie pirates purchase the DVD quality computer ready file, right from the source.

Gizmodo says that this whole thing might not work, as they expect the files to be so tightly wrapped in DRM, that it will be too annoying to get it to work on many computers. It should be interesting though to see how it competes against the entirely free "warez" model.

Warner Bros. to Use BitTorrent to Distribute Movies [Gizmodo]

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Warner Bros. to Use BitTorrent

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